What is with the obsession of patina on knives?

[skjames19]

a natural patina is beautiful! Gives the knife character.

 

[EChoil]

Patina scares me for food prep.

I never been to a Japanese sushi restaurant and see them use a carbon knife that looks that bad. That knife no matter how much you paid or how good it cuts does not look sanitary to be in a kitchen being used for food prep.

"Look," huh....? Hope you're sitting down because I hate to be the one to inform you that...

...the chef standing over the sushi he/she's preparing for you is contaminating it with far more scary things that can ever come from patina on a knife. He/she is exhaling millions of bacteria, fungi and germs (through his/her NOSE HAIRS even!!) that falls right onto your food and squirms. I addition, God knows where his/her fingers were before he/she took your order which, even after washing his/her hands, are distributing another billion or so little creepy things all over your sushi as he/she prepares it.

Then...you have the plate or surface from which you will consume it--who knows what crawled on it overnight, roaches....mice...maybe even peeing on it or worse. OH mah GAWD !! You think they re-washed that for you this morning?? Huh-uh.

Nothing on a clean, patina'd knife--NOTHING--is going to hold a candle to what has been added to your sushi, just from preparation by the chef, by the time it hits your mouth.

I like patina on some knives. It protects against rust and I like the look of a well-patina'd blade. IMO it often gives it some class and character. I let many of my carbon steel blades develop patina--the longer the better.

Now 'lax, man...and enjoy that sushi and think nothing of it.

 

[NJBillK]

So, who is your optometrist, because if the glasses he gave you can allow you to See bacterium, then I want a pair.

Patina doesn't hold much filth and that in and of itself would not cause one to get sick. I would be willing to bet that the rag used to wipe down the sushi counter/prep area is 10x more germ ridden than the chefs knife. And that thing is used between your dish and the one made 45 mins ago...

 

[needler420]

How come people say patina protects rust? I thought patina is rust just different color.

All I know is every carbon knife I held that has a patina has a charcoal color powder that rubs off the blade on anything you cut. Including food.

I can pretty much take any carbon blade with a patina and rub it across a white paper towel and you can see that stuff coming off.

 

[Shotgun]

A patina shows where the knife has been. It's like a story of the knife. And a good one is pretty. Never understood the appeal of coin collecting at all but I can see how coming from a hobby where a patina is unwanted would give you the opinion of it being "ugly."

 

[Shotgun]

How come people say patina protects rust? I thought patina is rust just different color.

All I know is every carbon knife I held that has a patina has a charcoal color powder that rubs off the blade on anything you cut. Including food.

I can pretty much take any carbon blade with a patina and rub it across a white paper towel and you can see that stuff coming off.

Nope. Different chemical process.

 

[kamagong]

Patina is what it is. It's a chemical reaction, nothing inherently good or bad about it. I don't force it, nor do I waste any time polishing it off.

 

[STAINLESS90]

Yeah the only problem with that statement is there is something inherently good about a patina like everyone here keeps repeating it protects from a red rust which is the kind that will damage and pit your blades. There is a difference between the red rust and grey
rust which is typically called patina red rusting will damage the, knife grey rust will protect it from red rust forming.

 

[stabman]

But patina is suddenly trendy with knife enthusiasts. Instead of it forming naturally with use, knife people today affect a patina with various methods. Seems a bit odd to me--all you gotta do is use the knife and it will stain.

Not too odd...just like Doc Martens in the 1990s.
Once they were popular, you looked like a poser if yours looked new.
So people ran around kicking dirt, rocks and snow/ice in order to not look like a dork.

 

[stabman]

From what I can see, the person truly obsessed with patina is the guy who started this thread.

 

[fsatsil]

How come people say patina protects rust? I thought patina is rust just different color.

All I know is every carbon knife I held that has a patina has a charcoal color powder that rubs off the blade on anything you cut. Including food.

I can pretty much take any carbon blade with a patina and rub it across a white paper towel and you can see that stuff coming off.

If you can rub it off with a paper towel how come you said you use a sharpening stone to remove patina in your original post?

 

[bt93]

Some of y'all might want to consider staying away from restaurants all together if the sight of a clean carbon steel blade with a patina causes you concern.

Having worked in restaurants, a patina'd up knife in a professional kitchen wouldn't pass a health inspector. No Way and No How. Besides any chef would know that patina effects the flavor on whatever is sliced or cut. Do restaurants use carbon steel in their kitchen? I'm sure some do but they'd be maintained and shiny. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of restaurants use stainless steel.

 

[craytab]

"Look," huh....? Hope you're sitting down because I hate to be the one to inform you that...

...the chef standing over the sushi he/she's preparing for you is contaminating it with far more scary things that can ever come from patina on a knife. He/she is exhaling millions of bacteria, fungi and germs (through his/her NOSE HAIRS even!!) that falls right onto your food and squirms. I addition, God knows where his/her fingers were before he/she took your order which, even after washing his/her hands, are distributing another billion or so little creepy things all over your sushi as he/she prepares it.

Then...you have the plate or surface from which you will consume it--who knows what crawled on it overnight, roaches....mice...maybe even peeing on it or worse. OH mah GAWD !! You think they re-washed that for you this morning?? Huh-uh.

Nothing on a clean, patina'd knife--NOTHING--is going to hold a candle to what has been added to your sushi, just from preparation by the chef, by the time it hits your mouth.

I like patina on some knives. It protects against rust and I like the look of a well-patina'd blade. IMO it often gives it some class and character. I let many of my carbon steel blades develop patina--the longer the better.

Now 'lax, man...and enjoy that sushi and think nothing of it.

So true!

Op, what is with the obsession over expensive butterfly knives? What's with the obsession over videogames? What's with the obsession of kids putting 420 on everything?

I dont know. I don't get it. I understand the bali thing but the other two seems dumb to me. Would I go on a videogame or pot forum and call those folks out? No.

In all your posts in this thread it would seem you need to do bit more research on the subject so you can at least understand what you are talking about.

Me? I like a nice patina on a knife. Not all the time though.

 

[craytab]

If you can rub it off with a paper towel how come you said you use a sharpening stone to remove patina in your original post?

And I would love to see how messed up that knife looked after a sharpening stone was used to remove a patina. Doing something so silly would no doubt remove metal as well as the patina. The most simple amount of research on the subject would show even the most jaded novice all you would need is a basic metal polish.

 

[marcinek]

.

Now 'lax, man...and enjoy that sushi and think nothing of it.

Now wait just a second. There was a time before stainless when ALL knives used for food prep were carbon steel. And the people from that time? Most of them are dead. Think that's a coincidence?

That said, I like a patina. Its part of the natural aging process of a carbon steel knife.

 

[bradytx]

Patinas are beautiful. I love a rainbow patina on traditional Knives. They take on character which stainless steel blades can't match.

 

[AreBeeBee]

As a X coin collector I know what a patina means. On a knife a patina to me means looks like garbage.....

Well, coin collectors, I believe, are highly motivated to acquire coins in the cleanest, most pristine, er... mint condition possible (or as much as budget allows).

While some knife collectors have parallel goals, many of us actually enjoy using the knives we collect. Lots of reasons why this is true, but utility is definitely part of what motivates at least some of us. And no knife in use remains mint for long.

Second, some of the most interesting knives of the past and present are made in carbon steel, which is prone to rust and the oxidation state called patina. If this bugs a knife collector, he or she drifts toward knives with stainless blades. Some folks even like a mirror finish on blades, which I guess would be like a coin collector's mint uncirculated whatever condition.

It's all fine. (And if you want to remove a patina from a carbon blade, try Simicrome and elbow grease.)

 

[Brisket]

Having worked in restaurants, a patina'd up knife in a professional kitchen wouldn't pass a health inspector. No Way and No How. Besides any chef would know that patina effects the flavor on whatever is sliced or cut. Do restaurants use carbon steel in their kitchen? I'm sure some do but they'd be maintained and shiny. I'm pretty sure the vast majority of restaurants use stainless steel.

You missed the point. Having been in the restaurant business years ago I'm more than familiar with health departments and the NSF requirements that many of them have. My comment had to do with a clean knife with patina being nothing to be concerned about health wise compared to other conditions in many commercial kitchens. The fact is many chefs prefer using carbon steel knives although many can not do so legally in a commercial establishment. If you have ever viewed the TV show Iron Chef you have likely seen chefs using carbon steel knives but perhaps have not realized it.

You are also wrong about patina effecting the flavor of whatever food it comes in contact with. It is the chemical reaction with carbon steel and foods (mostly acidic) that affects flavor, not patina and food that is eaten uncooked is seemingly affected more than cooked food. Patina can actually diminish the flavor imparted to food from contact with carbon steel. Eat an apple sliced with a shiny carbon steel blade and then do the same with a blade that has an established patina and you will see for yourself. A patina can provide a protective layer on carbon steel and is done for essentially the same reason a carbon steel wok and a cast iron skillet are seasoned before use.

 

[bt93]

Patina is just an excuse to not maintain a good knife. If I see a patina'd up knife in a restaurant, not eating there. If you don't like my opinion then ts. You like patina and your truly comfortable with it, then this reply doesn't bother you.

 

[ocnLogan]

You missed the point. Having been in the restaurant business years ago I'm more than familiar with health departments and the NSF requirements that many of them have. My comment had to do with a clean knife with patina being nothing to be concerned about health wise compared to other conditions in many commercial kitchens. The fact is many chefs prefer using carbon steel knives although many can not do so legally in a commercial establishment. If you have ever viewed the TV show Iron Chef you have likely seen chefs using carbon steel knives but perhaps have not realized it.

You are also wrong about patina effecting the flavor of whatever food it comes in contact with. It is the chemical reaction with carbon steel and foods (mostly acidic) that affects flavor, not patina and food that is eaten uncooked is seemingly affected more than cooked food. Patina can actually diminish the flavor imparted to food from contact with carbon steel. Eat an apple sliced with a shiny carbon steel blade and then do the same with a blade that has an established patina and you will see for yourself. A patina can provide a protective layer on carbon steel and is done for essentially the same reason a carbon steel wok and a cast iron skillet are seasoned before use.

+1 on that last bit. It is conceptually similar to seasoning a skillet. I can also confirm that using non-patina'd carbon steel can change flavor (and sometimes color) of an apple. However, my heavily patina'd opinel (my "apple" knife at work) had no such effect.

And again, its conceptually similar to why car guys wax their cars constantly. It provides a layer of protection, and enhances the looks (for some).

And if patinas bother you, I'd stick with stainless blades.